


Something worth protecting

by samariumwriting



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-13
Updated: 2020-05-13
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:46:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 751
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24163837
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/samariumwriting/pseuds/samariumwriting
Summary: Laslow takes a risky move to protect Xander in battle, and he's not having it.
Relationships: Lazward | Laslow & Marx | Xander
Comments: 4
Kudos: 37
Collections: samariumwriting's Invincible Zine Server fics





	Something worth protecting

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this for the Invincible Zine Server's Laslow themed zine! The whole thing can be downloaded via a link on their twitter if you wanna check the other works out.

“I think we need to talk about what you did back there.” Xander’s voice cut through the sounds of the post-battle murmuring, and Laslow looked up. Exhausted, sweaty, clothes covered in blood, but alive. Just. Xander tried not to show the extent of his relief.

“Milord?” Laslow asked. His face was the picture of innocence. He was going to act as if he didn’t know what he was talking about, then. That was his favourite tactic, though he usually utilised it to deny he’d been out womanising.

“You can’t go around doing things like that,” he said firmly. He could still see Laslow’s whole body diving in front of a blade meant for him. He’d blocked the strike, thrown them off, but for just a moment…

(Xander could practically see Laslow dead on the ground, bleeding out. He could hear the apology he’d have to give to his friends, the family he didn’t even know if Laslow had.)

“You shouldn’t put yourself at risk for my sake.”

“No offence, Milord,” Laslow said, a bright smile gracing his face, “but it’s my job to protect you with my life. That’s what I’m here for.”

“Your job is to protect me with your life, Laslow,” he said. Laslow wouldn’t meet his eyes, but he wasn’t going to stop. He refused to see Laslow throw his life away for his sake. “Not without it.”

Laslow nodded, and for a moment, Xander thought that maybe he’d managed to get through to him. “I think it would be worth it, if it took that,” he said. “I’ve seen what a country is like without its leader. Nohr doesn’t need that.”

Xander frowned again, and Laslow’s easy smile wavered. He didn’t know much about where Laslow had come from, though he’d been warned by Iago that there was something suspicious about him. He hadn’t paid the man any heed, because Laslow was trustworthy enough, but that didn’t mean he didn’t want to know. “What is it like?” he asked.

Laslow paused. “It causes things no man ought to see,” he said. “Things I don’t want any citizen of Nohr to see. Or anyone ever again, for that matter.”

He had a look on his face that Xander very rarely saw from his retainer: seriousness. Something locked behind a hundred walls. If it was such a terrible thing he had seen, of which Xander had no real doubt, then he wondered how Laslow managed to keep up the facade. “I’m sorry about what happened to your homeland.”

“There’s no need for apologies,” Laslow said, and the bright smile returned, ever so slightly dimmer than before. “It’s all in the past now, after all.”

There was a lilt to his voice, somehow. Something Xander couldn’t decipher. But it was just that; he couldn’t work it out, and he had no real right to pry more than he had already. “Of course,” he said, though he wasn’t exactly sure what he was agreeing to. “No one wants to see Nohr fall, Laslow. But I don’t want to see you fall either.”

Perhaps it was a selfish wish, but Xander hated when people died in his name. Maybe it was foolish, because one day he would be a king and would have a whole army full of people sworn to fight for his rule, his cause. Laslow was one of those people.

Though he didn’t show it, didn’t say it, Laslow had been through a lot. Xander could feel it in his words, in his interactions with the friends he’d brought from however far away the place he used to live was. There was… It wasn’t a heaviness to his actions, not exactly, but there was a weight.

He knew that what he did mattered. He knew far better than Xander that everything could change, everything could fall, which meant that everything was precious. Laslow knew the implications of his actions when he jumped in front of an axe meant for another man.

Knowing that didn’t put Xander’s mind at ease. “Okay, Milord,” Laslow said. “You don’t want to see me fall. I don’t want to see you fall. So we’ll just have to make sure that never happens. I protect you, you protect me, neither of us dies. Easy, right?”

“Easy.” Xander offered Laslow a small smile in return. It was not, of course, as easy as Laslow was suggesting. But it was something, and if that something gave Laslow reason to smile? Well, that was good enough for him.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading :) if you have any thoughts, please leave a comment or consider following me on twitter @samariumwriting


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